Archive By Section - Sports Columns

I have a 75 gallon fish tank at home where I have about six tropical fish. When I purchased my fish I tried to get them in pairs. Coincidentally, two of my pairs ended up spawning several times over the summer. Once the cooler weather hit, I noticed several changes occur in the tank. The first change I noticed was the once radiant colors of my fish went pale and their movement became very sluggish. Rarely did any of them feed off the surface of the tank anymore and several even chose to skip meals. All spawning activity also came ...

I've written about my former coaches before and the impact they made on my life. For the most part, they've been good memories. And even the bad ones, which included them yelling in my face, were beneficial because I know it was for my own good.

This was my eighth-grade boys basketball tryout: Our coach, a slender man with a monotone voice, instructed us to make five straight free throws. He didn't care who took the shot, but every time a ball refused to go in, we'd run sprints up and down the court.

Recently I was asked to explain the differences between a reaction bait and a rip bait. I realized then, that for those just getting into the sport or who've been out of it for a while can easily be confused with the ever changing fisherman's language.

It's time to honor Michael Jordan. The greatest basketball player ever will be enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday. Even Jordan himself couldn't tarnish his own legacy as an old man with bad knees in a game that had evolved since he last laced one of his popular Air Jordans.

I had just pounded out the opening mile of my first 5K run when a serious dilemma popped in front of my face. Maybe the thought also crossed the minds of the other runners. Well, probably except for those superhumans - also known as the Cal State Stanislaus runners - who do this kind of stuff as warm-up.

The Philpott's, Tracy's leading racing family, continued their season long domination of the Western Late Model ranks at the New Stockton 99 Speedway with a clean sweep of last Saturday night's twin 50-lap features.

Tom Brandstater, a Turlock High graduate, wants to be the Super Bowl MVP, the one who lifts his index finger in the air to show that he's No. 1 and the one who looks into a camera and tells the world where he wants to go on vacation next.

In a bold effort to build up car count and increase the championship drama down the homestretch of the season, Madera Speedway President Kenny Shepherd made a surprise announcement last week that the 2009 Western Late Model championship at the 1/3 mile oval would be determined by the last four races with only the top 10 drivers in the points being eligible.